Hickory Tavern

The food was mediocre, but the service was even worse. We received our appetizer before our drinks came — they were sitting on the bar. Then waited 20 minutes for tacos., then another 20 for the check. First and last time there. I will say the Octoberfest pretzels were very good!

I had high hopes for Hickory Tavern. My husband has been here numerous times but today was my first visit.
There was about a 25 minute wait when we arrived. We gave our name and phone number and was told we would be sent a text when our table was ready. We ran over to the mini Walmart next door for a quick trip while our table was getting ready.
When we got the text our table was ready, we waited at the hostess stand while she conversed with another guest. Then she barked to the seater, «Bring them to table #_​_​_​.» My gut instinct was to comment out loud, «No „please“??? … She was pretty rude.»
Our server was all over us asking if we were ready to order before our a**es even touched the seats. We ordered a couple drinks and had her come back so we could look over the menu.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the menu and went with a «Build Your Own Salad for $ 9.70.» My husband had the wings entrée for $ 13. For the salad you got to customize your own salad. You pick 6 ingredients and then additional were 50 cents each. I chose: Romaine, chopped egg, bacon, tomato, red peppers, red onion, avocado and blue cheese crumbles. (You could add a protein for $ 3.30 but I didn’t). The salad was good BUT I wasn’t full after finishing it… And I thought that one tiny dressing wasn’t enough but ended up not asking for more. My husband said the wings were good. He paid extra to have them «charred.» But they didn’t look «that» grilled to me. I didn’t taste them but he said they were good.
Atmosphere was ok. I liked the openness of the place and the outdoor seating area. But it was pretty loud in there in my opinion. They have a TON of TVs with sports galore on them. My husband was able to watch hockey and baseball at the same time.
Eh, I want to try out a bunch of other places before giving this place another go.

The food was ok. The service was awful. There was no prebussing of the table. It was slow. The manager did take off 25% for us. Probably won’t go back there.

Great food, friendly service, and wide selection of beers on tap. Good place to hang with friends!

Second time here. They do a great job here. Service is spot on. Food was perfect and atmosphere is perfect for sports bar. Other restaurants in Winston-​Salem need to take note for how to run a restaurant!

Tried this place today for lunch. I use to go to the one in Hickory, NC around the year 2005 but don’t really remember much about that one except I enjoyed the food they had. So I was excited to try this location. I ordered the California chicken sandwich with a side of tater tots. This place automatically scores good points with me for having the tots as a side option!!! The sandwich itself was a huge juicy piece of chicken coved in pepper jack cheese and mushrooms and lettuce and onions and came with a avocado spread. I enjoyed this entrée and def will get it again. The waitress we had was great, She had a bubbly personality and kept our teas refilled without us having to request!!! the manager on duty stopped by our table to check how we were doing.

This is your typical sports bar with tvs all over the place. The bar isn’t big and it feels as if it’s more geared towards large parties and/​or families.
Now for the food:
We started off with the prezels, which was served with some congealed white cheese sauce and some sweet honey mustard. The pretzel itself was good; however I was not a big fan of the sauces. We also had the potato chips. Skip those, they’re flavorless. I had the prime rib sandwich. It was simple, just meat, bread and a side of au jus. Nothing special, but it was sooooooooo good. I had a side of crab legs with that. Yes, you heard right. Most people will do a potato or veggies, I do crab legs. They were good, but they weren’t the best quality. I also had the house salad, all I can say that it was almost very America if they would’ve added cheese. It had lettuce, lots of bacon and ham, nuts, eggs, tomatoes and a mini crescent roll. Very tasty salad indeed. My husband had the turkey sandwich which he thought was delicious.
Overall, the food is pretty good for a sports bar, but not earth shaking and the service is ok. I would go back.

I am not a fan of the prices as I feel they could be a bit lower but the service they provide is wonderful! My husband and I shared an Au Jou sandwich and it was pretty good! Also, it is conveniently located on Stratford which is easy to get to from most parts of WS

Well, I wish I would’ve listened to the Unilocal reviews. I’m usually glad when I get to experience something new. However, I can say that this experience was a little blah. Nothing memorable except a overpriced meal. We decided on a whim to try the Hickory Tavern but quickly regretted our decision when we received a menu. The waitress was kind but did not offer any suggestions. The food was not bad but it wasn’t great and definitely not worth the price.
One thing that would help is if a manager would walk around talking to customers and ask about the experience, and there was not. Another thing that seemed a bit off was the excitement or any kind of passion from the employees.
Wings here are literally the most expensive that I’ve ever seen anywhere, $ 13 for 8 wings and a side. The burgers are around $ 10 — $ 12 each. I ate a buffalo chicken sandwich which was $ 10 and in my opinion was just as good as a Wendy’s sandwich except at Wendy’s I could’ve had cheese and bacon, fries and s drink for less than I paid for just the sandwich. I did ask for cheese and bacon but there were extra charges for each and since it was expensive already I declined.
I can’t say I will return unless some serious changes take place (which has happened before) but I’m not holding my breathe.

Beer selection on tap is okay, could definitely be better. The problem however is the ridiculous price for the beers and food. The beers are definitely overpriced for the kinds they have and the food is definitely not worth the price as well. 2 very small tacos for $ 7.50 was just hilarious… AND…that was on the «specials menu». For serious foodies and drinkers I would recommend going to another place. Just wait till BJ’s Brewhouse and Restaurant opens up on Strattford near Hanes Mall.

This place was «okay» to say the least. Me, and some friends of mine always like to try new places in the area, so we decided to give this one a shot. It definitely didn’t blow your mind at all. They did have an abundance of beers to choose from, however the food menu was scarce. I was expecting a little more variety from a tavern, but was led to be disappointed. The food was good for what it was, however, it was just limited in terms of the items you were able to choose from. There were plenty of TV’s to watch the games on which was nice, so no matter where you turn, you should have a good view of what game is on. It’s nice, but just average when being compared to other places in Winston.

I was surprised to see that this place only had 2.5 stars. I really liked it! I ordered the lobster roll with broccoli as my side and was very pleased. This was my first lobster roll and it has set a high bar! Came out on a buttered/​grilled roll that was overflowing with lobster. Very tasty. May have been a smallish portion but the flavor was great. The broccoli was normal, slightly over steamed perhaps. My friend ordered a custom salt and she was very happy. She said all the ingredients were very fresh and she loved it.

They have Tavern down, but hickory I’m not sure about. I was hoping for some BBQ, or lots of smoked meats, but found lots of appetizers, burgers, and salad. Wall to wall to wall Tvs. I think there may be more Tvs here then the electronic store.
We went for lunch, we got sat right away and a really nice waitress. She was super bubbly and was very helpful to make suggestions and explain the menu. They had a neat food truck menu full of apps. We ordered the Shred Heads (tatter-​tots), and wings. The waitress recommend the sweet heat and suggested getting them grilled which is an up charge.
Good was fairly quick, the shred heads were ok, I think my frozen Tatter-​tots from my oven may be better. The wings were very meaty. The sauce was ok, but the up gaffe for grilled was a massive waste.
I would be interested in trying the wings again as they were so meaty, and did have other flavors. They did have lots of other apps that sounded neat but I’m not sure I’d rush back as the menu really didn’t blow me away or have that must have item.

Tried this place out for the first time last night for my husband’s work holiday party. We were in a separate room with doors that were soundproof which was awesome. They had 4 tvs in there and music playing. The décor of the restaurant is super rocker chic. They have awesome pictures of rock stars and actors all around the walls. We had two waitresses who were awesome! They tended to the party of 20 really fast and efficient. We all had drinks when we needed them. I tried the pirate Long Island iced tea. It was great! The Mai tai not so much. It had a weird taste like bad ice from a freezer. We started off with the bbq chicken nachos. The sauce was delicious and the mound of nachos had cheese and chicken all over the place. They were destroyed. Next for dinner we ordered the Korean BBQ tacos, chicken quesadilla and a lobster roll. The tacos and quesadilla were good. Nothing really special about them. The tacos had a nice taste to them with sesame oil and a nice kick of some sort of spicy sauce at the end. The quesadilla was a decent size and average in taste. The lobster roll was good but not worth $ 15 for a tiny roll and a handful of fries. The bread was toasted to perfect and had butter on it. You could see the chunks of lobster in roll and it had just the right amount of mayo or whatever they used to not overpower the taste of the lobster. I would probably go back here to watch a football game and enjoy their drink specials. Great place!

Great sports restaurant. TV’s everywhere and Sunday was perfect for all football games. Was able to enjoy a delicious burger and watch my NY Jets destroy Miami. Waitstaff was on point. Food was hot and perfectly cooked. Loved the vibe and atmosphere here. Especially if your a sports fan. I would definitely come back again.

So Hickory Tavern is a nice little sports bar/​restaurant off of Stratford road in the area where the old Hanes factory used to reign supreme for so many years. I love the fact that no matter where you are sitting in the place you have a great view of whatever game is on the TV. Never had to wait as the place is large enough to accommodate a lot of people.
The food is good, nothing mind blowing but solid. The Shrimp Po Boy was good as was the seared tuna. The real star is the great beer list. Tons of NC beers as well as favorites from around the world. Love that Lone Rider Sweet Josie (Raleigh, NC) on draft! There is a small but serviceable wine list and a full bar, so there is something to drink for everyone.
This location is as good as the location in Hickory, NC so if you are a sports fan or know someone who is, you owe it to yourself to get there and try it.

This place opened up recently and I have been meaning to try it. I figured we could go here for a drink and a bite to each on a Saturday night. Walked in and was blown away with the amount of TVs on the walls. I mean literally anywhere you looked had a TV, and most had different football games showing on them. A football fans wet dream. However, I didn’t come to watch football I came to eat.
Ordered the chicken wings with a side Caesar Salad and beer. The salad came out first, it was pretty decent, though a bit much on the dressing. The wings came out next and my plate felt empty. They literally filled half the plate with the 8 wings I ordered, the other half with… nothing. I did get some ranch and celery. Okay, at this point the wings for a whopping total of $ 13 + 2.95 for a salad substitute have to be good right? Mediocre at best would be my word to describe them. One of the wings was so small I am not even sure it could be classified as a wing. The hot sauce, celery, and beer were good. Everything else was a disappointment.
I think the reason this place got the review it did was for the ridiculous prices. You can’t charge $ 13 for 8 wings, that’s like $ 1.60 per wing, which was insane for how small these are.
Service was okay, nothing amazing, but I can’t complain as our waitress was patient and polite.
I would come back and try a burger, but I think I’ll save my money and avoid this place, unless I just come to grab a beer and watch a football game. Hard to screw up beers in a bottle right?

Came to Hickory Tavern for brunch on a Sunday. There was a fairly good crowd when I arrived before noon and the restaurant continued to fill with church-​goers after noon.
The interior is nice, well-​appointed with TVs everywhere. I have a hard time calling it a sports bar but I think that is what they strive to be.
My server was lackluster. I mean, he was fine but each time he touched my table it seemed like he couldn’t wait to get back to the beverage station to chat with his friends. Oh well.
I ordered the chicken Colorado with tots and a side salad. The salad came out at the same time as the chicken which is a major pet peeve of mine. However it was a great salad with a nice little croissant on top. The chicken and tots were good too.
I will probably return to Hickory Tavern in the future.

Also Meh. The interior is great, well thought out sports bar. TV’s are everywhere. The menu ranged from burgers to seafood to salads to wings. We ended up just getting some appetizers. The flavors were just ok. Prices were $ 7 – 14 for dinner. No idea what lunch prices are.
I ordered a draft beer, didn’t like it, I got through about ½ of it before I recognized the skunky beer taste (hey, I tried to like it). It happens. I asked the waitress to tell the bartender I thought it was bad, which she did. She took my beer for him to taste. Ordered another beer, much better.
BOTH beers were on the check, full price, even though the waitress took ½ of my first beer away for being bad. This is a bad strategy. They should at least have only charged me half price for the bad one. I paid full for both beers, but they lost a customer. Nickeled and dimed over a bad draft beer? No thanks, I don’t need that.

My daughter and I had our first visit to Hickory Tavern a few weekends ago. My daughter secured us an indoor table but when I arrived we asked to sit outside and were moved with no problem. The waitress indoors had never even came to acknowledge she was there.
Once we were reseated, the waitress asked for our drink order just a few moments later. She returned with our drinks and excused herself to check on some other tables. She finally came back for our order… We were fairly simple as we both got the «Bucket of Boat Trash» ~ 10 steamed oysters, 8 shrimp and 2 clusters of crab legs.
Our food was brought out in a reasonable amount of time. She had already brought us a scrap pail with crackers, hot sauces and needed utensils. As we dove through the pail, starting with the shrimp, we were fairly impressed. They were a good size and had a good flavor but we needed cocktail sauce. Had to wait a bit before we could get any. The crab legs were on the small side, but again had a good flavor. The oysters had absolutely no flavor whatsoever and several that weren’t steamed enough, 2 that weren’t even willing to be pried open. The waitress saw the struggle and didn’t offer to do anything.
For $ 29.99 for the «Bucket of Boat Trash» I was very let down. I can go to Smittys Grille in Kernersville on Tuesdays and get 4 decent clusters for $ 14.99 and $ 19.99 any night. I don’t understand all the hype of Hickory Tavern. They were a little overpriced with a small variety of offerings. I expected a much fuller menu.